Coach Tiger LaVerde might as well have walked up to rookie Lucci Cantini and thrown a cup of ice water in the first-year offensive lineman’s face.

The Kirtland football team was wrapping up a film session before a Week 4 game against Trinity last September when LaVerde surprised the young lineman.

“Lucci, you’re first,” said LaVerde and Cantini’s eyes bulged out of his face. “Show us what you’ve been working for all offseason.”

A year after playing eighth-grade football and playing three games on the junior varsity team, Cantini got his chance. And he didn’t miss a single snap the rest of the year.

There were times last season when deciding who would start on the offensive line was as difficult as throwing two dice at the wall and seeing what came out. While there were no questions about who would start at the skill positions in 2023, with seniors Gino Blasini, Rocco Alfieri, Will Beers and Macguire Boyd all returning, the big question mark was the offensive line.

LaVerde and his team spent weeks looking for combinations that could help the Hornets perform at their best. And it worked, as Kirtland won the seventh state championship in the program’s history.

Fast forward to this year, and things are very different. There is not a lot of experience at the specialty positions on offense. But the one thing that LaVerde and his team knowledge They can rely on an offensive line that is virtually unchanged from the 2023 season, when few knew what to expect from the guys in the trenches.

“That’s definitely the strength of the team,” LaVerde said. “They’ve looked really good. We haven’t played a game yet, but I’m excited. I’m excited to see how these guys do.”

Cantini (5-10, 215) is back at center. The two senior guards are also back – two-time All-Ohioan Matthew Kahley (6-0, 250) at right and Jackson Carestio (6-1, 235) at left. Sophomore Jack Turk (6-2, 240) returns at right tackle after starting several games as a freshman, while senior Teddy Prusock (6-1, 260) takes over at left tackle.

How strong are the Hornets on the offensive line? Casey Carkhuff (6-2, 225), who started at guard until he tore his ACL in a Week 3 game against Perry, has been promoted to tight end, where he will face Johnny Rascan (6-2, 220). Additionally, sophomore Vince Prusock (5-8, 270) is more than ready and able while waiting in the wings.

“Last year we used so many guys from the start,” LaVerde said. “Every week we tried different guys. They played their best game in the championship game. They just got better and better as the year went on.”

Kahley remembers sitting in a pitch-silent locker room after a 24-6 loss to Perry in Week 3. Everyone’s pride was hurt to lose a home game at the newly rededicated Wilson Stadium. No one’s pride was hurt more than the guys on the offensive line.

“None of us were at our best in that game,” Kahley said. “After that game, we all knew it was a reality check. We had to figure out what was going on, and we had to figure it out fast.”

Entered the field two freshmen – Cantini and Turk – who months ago had played on an eighth-grade team nicknamed “The Killer Hornets” for their one-sided results against opponents, and helped stabilize the line.

“Oh yeah, it was nerve-racking,” Cantini said with a laugh about his first start. After all, every single play started with his snap. “I knew the plays because we had been practicing them for a while. We play the same plays from youth on, so they’re ingrained in our heads.”

“Jack and I both started our first game (against Trinity). I messed up a few snaps in practice, but I didn’t mess up a single one for the next 13 weeks.”

Kahley, the anchor of last year’s and this year’s line, said, “Lucci has gotten so good and Jack has evolved throughout the year as well. It’s been exciting to see that.”

Carkhuff was in more of a coaching role after tearing his ACL and undergoing surgery. He said he did everything he could to ease the initial pain of an offensive line that included senior Brady Burich, junior Kahley and a number of new players.

“It was hard to just sit there and watch,” he said. “But they worked their asses off all season.”

Now that he’s healthy again, Carkhuff said he’s been “busting his butt” in the weight room at Kirtland. He was in good company with his teammates on the offensive line, who held a seminar in the offseason to improve in the trenches they built last season.

Even though the faces in Kirtland’s backfield will be new this season (aside from quarterback Jake LaVerde), members of the line know it’s up to them to fill the gaps in the Hornets’ vaunted running attack. That means some work in the weight room.

In a maximum strength-endurance strength training session before fall workouts began, Kahley squatted 385 pounds, followed by Carestio at 345. Not far behind were Vince Prusock at 315 pounds, Carkhuff at 315 pounds, Teddy Prusock at 300 pounds, Turk at 295 pounds and Cantini at 285 pounds. Every member of the offensive line squatted more than 500 pounds, led by Kahley at 515 pounds and Carkhuff at 500 pounds.

Pretty scary numbers for a Division VI program.

“I’m lifting more weight now than before my surgery,” said Carkhuff. “Just imagine.”

In addition to their work in the weight room, Kirtland’s offensive linemen took first place in the Lineman Challenge at Ontario High School this summer, their third such title in as many years, including a win in the tug-of-war competition. That win came shortly after their first-place finish in the Lineman Challenge at the University of Pittsburgh training camp.

“We were close to losing in Pittsburgh,” Kirtland strength coach Ray Sullivan said, “and our guys just took control. It was great.”

The combination of raw, physical strength and experience from a championship season in 2023, when it could have been the team’s biggest question mark – or even its biggest weakness – gives Kirtland’s offensive line this year as much confidence as ever.

“Everyone has experience now,” Cantini said. “Everyone knows the moves and has confidence in what they’re doing.”

Kahley intervened.

“It’s cool after being so clueless last year,” he said with a laugh. “We didn’t know from week to week who was going to be there or anything. Now we know who the guys are. Tiger says we have to be the strength of this team, which is great.”

If you ask this year’s linemen who will take over the running positions vacated by last year’s 1,000-yard runners Alfieri and Beers, they’ll just shrug. It’s not that they don’t know (it will most likely be Danny Alfieri, Jack Lessick and Tyler Turk, among others), it’s just that the linemen are confident they’ll be successful no matter who’s carrying the ball, as long as they do their job.

Kirtland opens the season at home on August 23 against reigning Division VII runner-up Dalton.

“We’re ready,” Cantini said. “Last year helped us build our confidence. There’s a little pressure, but we’ve worked for it. Not to offend the defenders, but the key for us this year will be our guys up front.”